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SSG's Bi-Weekly Hasbro Q&A - May 9th

"Hello, my name is: Hasbro's answers to SSG questions for May 9th, 2008." Thanks again to Hasbro for the answers, to all the folks who sent in questions and especially those who voted on them.

Hasbro Q&A for the week of May 9th

SSG: Are there folks today at Hasbro who were working on the Star Wars line back when it was reborn in 1995? Was there any clue behind-the-scenes back then that the Star Wars toy line would garner such a huge adult collector following? Were adult collectors considered at all on any level back then when forging the line's beginnings? What do you folks think of the extensive adult collector enthusiasm for the line today, 13 years later? Hasbro: Interesting question! There are indeed folks who were with Kenner back when the line was relaunched, who are also an important part of the nucleus of the team today. While we do not mention names here in the Q&A, the faces should be familiar to those who attend or view any of our panel presentations from Celebration or Comic Con. The answer to your question is that yes, when the line was relaunched, consideration was taken as to who the audience would be and what their wants and desires would be to collect the modern line. This shaped the complexion of the line at relaunch and also has been a continuous influence as it has moved forward. This consideration is seen most importantly in three ways: 1. The 3-3/4" scale was chosen as the "default" scale for the relaunch (despite there being no 3-3/4" line in the market at the time and the trend in other lines was moving toward 5-6" figures); 2.The choice to keep the nostalgic 6"x9" basic carded format, which has now been the "heart" of the line now for 20 years inclusive of Vintage; 3. The vehicle designs and approach selected during the relaunch and afterward. Regarding the last point, it was felt that since a portion of the audience would be adult collectors, and that many of them already had the vintage vehicles in their collections, that newness in feautres and electronics was needed to make them different and move the brand forward. This important priority on vehicles, while it has waxed and waned, has never left the line and has been taken to a new level this year with two of our biggest vehicles - the Millenium Falcon and the AT-TE. We should note that there is also a fantastic backstory to the making of the new Millenium Falcon that will be revealed as time goes on....stay tuned!

SSG: With a wave pushed out of this year making way for another repaint wave, does this give Episode I fans a chance to buy some figures in 2008? There's the oft-requested Holographic Nute Gunray, or perhaps a different color variation to the Post-OTC Queen's Handmaiden (Rabe) figure. This could compliment nicely next year's Ep 1 wave that you've already confirmed, so, what do you say? Hasbro: There won't be any EpI figures slotted into the lineup for the redeco wave.

SSG: With The Force Unleashed videogame being pushed back to mid-September, will TFU product be re-released to coincide with the game's release? Hasbro: Aside from the two Wal-Mart 3-packs, scheduled to launch with the game, and one basic-carded Stormtrooper Commander whose release is being managed by LucasAsrts, there are no other major re-releases planned. A couple select figures (including Vader) will be re-released for the Legacy/Droid Factory waves, but that's it. This is simply because of the logistics of the launch and the need to bring in the rest of the figures this Fall. It will be something we watch going forward though, and it's possible we could look to re-release some of the more popular figures as time goes on, but it will not be synched up to the Fall release.

What are the chances we could get a Comic Pack set of Siri Tachi in "Zora" disguise and Obi-Wan in "Bakleeda" disguise from Jedi Quest? It gets you a new character and a core character which helps sell it, but in a new look which adds action figure credibility and is spawned right from the series.

A while back, we asked about the possibilities of pre-orders on the HasbroToyShop website, your response was enthusiastic and passed along to the HTS team, but since then there has been no change to that matter. Since that time, gas prices have soared to nearly double, making it far more difficult for collectors to hit their local retailers day in and day out to find the newest Star Wars figures. With this in mind, might we see a preorder system on HTS any time soon? If not, why not?

At Toy Fair in both New York and now Australia, from the Padme Amidala Legacy Evolutions set, the Revenge of the Sith Padme figure is shown without her japor-snippet necklace that she wore in the film with this costume, Anakin even makes a point of it in the movie, making it a fairly integeral aspect to this character and an odd item not to include. Will this be a separate accessory included with the final product?

The HasbroToyShop team does indeed do pre-orders, but it is not consistent for all products due to some logistics. (For instance, now the Indiana Jones pre-sells are live, but they had to wait until the national embargo date has passed before being allowed to do it). They will be doing it more and more on Star Wars this coming Fall, so keep checking back.

Well, that'd kinda kill the SOTE-like feel this was supposed to have. Then again, those figures largely tanked back in the day. Still, I think when this game finally does come out, the gamer community which largely ignores buying figures would be looking to jump in and this would have been a good way to make that happen.

Darth Vader is becoming the Mickey Mouse of Star Wars.

Kylo Ren - came from Space Brooklyn, although he moved to Space Williamsburg before it was trendy.

The use of a lightsaber does not make one a Jedi, it is the ability to not use it.

Well, that'd kinda kill the SOTE-like feel this was supposed to have. Then again, those figures largely tanked back in the day. Still, I think when this game finally does come out, the gamer community which largely ignores buying figures would be looking to jump in and this would have been a good way to make that happen.

Well, they had their chance, twice, to relive those "glorious" 1996 SOTE days, but the game kept getting delayed. It's over, let it die.

Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split. - Robert E. Howard